“The work of writing can be easy only for those who have not learned to write.” (James Gould Cozzens)

Objective: This course is an intensive writing workshop designed to teach the basic elements of news writing and reporting. You will learn specific skills, including reporting and interviewing from a diverse and multicultural perspective, hard news and feature writing, as well as writing on deadline and using social media to research and report stories, reach a wider audience and promote your work. You will critique each other and learn through the process of writing and rewriting. You will also gain insight into the ethical and legal issues confronting today’s journalists.

Each of you will create your own online domain and set up social media accounts that you don’t have already (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, etc.) to establish a digital identity and a personal cyber-infrastructure where you will publish your work. By creating your own website and social media identity, you will be preparing yourself for digital citizenship and learning about the best practices for digital publication. We will also have a class website, our own Twitter hashtag and an Instagram account, which will help turn this course into an open, networked community. Required Texts:Inside Reporting, 3rd Edition, Tim Harrower (buy or rent at Amazon.com: (http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Reporting-Tim-Harrower/dp/0073526177/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407719466&sr=1-3&keywords=harrower)The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2014, (https://www.apstylebook.com)Reading Handouts:TheElements of Journalism, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel (On NYU Classes/Lessons)Online subscriptions:The New York Times (for college student rate: www.nytimes.com/collegerate Mediabistro Morning News Feed: http://www.mediabistro.com Muck Rack http://muckrack.com/ Mashable http://mashable.com/Assignments: Reading: For class discussions, reading assignments must be completed by the date that they appear on the schedule. You are also required to read TheNew York Times each day to stay on top of current events. Special student subscriptions are available. Students will take turns critiquing content and technique at the beginning of each class. There will also be pop quizzes on current events, class lectures and reading assignments. Writing: Get ready to write… and rewrite! You will be writing news stories in class on a regular basis to learn how to write effectively on deadline. You will also have an assignment each weekend that will take you off campus. These reporting assignments will teach you that news and feature writing can take many forms from vignettes to breaking news stories to Q&A interviews. Our major assignments will include an obituary, a man-on-the-street survey story, a story covering a speech, and a final project profiling a faculty member, campus figure or other noteworthy local individual. All assignments (except for the obituary) must be published on your website and submitted in paper to me on the designated due date at the beginning of class even if you are absent. Deadlines are taken seriously in this course and late assignments will not be accepted except in the case of a documented personal or family emergency. If you are sick and miss class, it’s your responsibility to contact me, make up the work missed and hand in the next homework assignment on time. Events: There will be two off-campus tours and several on-campus, journalism-related events that you will be required to attend. Grading: Your grade will consist of five parts and will reflect all course requirements and material covered. Grading will conform to the Journalism Department’s policy: A= publishable as is B= publishable with light editing C=publishable with a rewrite D=major problems with facts, reporting, writing F=missing key facts, containing gross misspellings, plagiarism or libel

In-Class Work and Homework: 25 percent Your work during class time will include pop quizzes on current events, lecture material and reading assignments, deadline writing assignments, weekend reporting assignments and in-class news critiques.Midterm Exam: 5 percent This in-class exam on 11/4 will include an in-class deadline writing exercise.Final Deadline Writing Assignment: 10 percent This in-class writing assignment on 12/9 will involve writing a breaking news story on deadline.

Writing Assignments: 50 percent You will have four formal reporting and writing assignments: Obituary: 10 percent MOS Story: 10 percent Speech Story: 10 percent Individual Profile: 20 percent For the first three assignments (obituary, MOS and speech story), you have the option to rewrite these assignments to improve your grade. The revision is due one week from when I hand it back and must include the original assignment. The new and the old grade will be averaged for a final grade. For the Individual Profile assignment, you will submit a first draft to me by the start of class on 11/20. Your work will be critiqued and graded, and you will meet with me individually to discuss how to revise it. This is a mandatory meeting. You will then rewrite it, post the final version on your website and submit a final draft on the last day of class.

Domain and Social Media: 10 percent You will be creating your own website as part of this course and judged on the architecture, presentation, accessibility and content of your domain and social media posts. Resources: https://www.namecheap.comhttp://www.namesilo.comhttps://www.newsu.org/wordpress-tutorialhttp://www.jtoolkit.com/wp/wordpress-basics/http://hc.weebly.com/hc/en-us/sections/200354313-Beginner-s-Guide-to-WeeblyYour final grade in the course is not necessarily a strict mathematical average. I reserve the right to move your grade up or down based on your class participation and attendance. Attendance and participation in class discussions is expected. Exceptional engagement and participation will improve your final grade while a lack of participation will hurt your final grade. On-time attendance at every class is also expected and habitual tardiness will lower your grade. We will start promptly at 3:30 p.m. Students are allowed two absences, but any unexcused absences beyond those two will damage your grade. Absences for illness or personal emergencies need to be documented in writing. Any in-class assignment including news quizzes cannot be made up, but I offer at least one extra credit assignment to replace your lowest quiz grade. NYU Writing Center: The NYU Writing Center is located at 411 Lafayette, 4th Floor and offers students help with their writing at every stage of the writing process. You can make an appointment at http://www.nyu.edu/cas/ewp/html/writing_center.html

Accuracy:Accuracy is the Holy Grail of journalism. All of your writing will be judged for factual accuracy as well as correctness in numbers and math, spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage and AP style. Your grade will reflect your command of these basics. The misspelling of any name or place or a significant factual error in an assignment, story or exam will result in a 10-point deduction. This policy reflects the belief that accuracy is the cornerstone of good journalism and that such errors cannot be tolerated. Plagiarism: Integrity and credibility are the two pillars of journalism. All work submitted in this class must be your original work. Any student presenting the work of someone else, whether off the Internet or from another publication or from a classmate will receive an F. All quotes must be authentic and reported by you alone. You will be required to turn in a contact sheet for all assignments and sources and quotes will be spot-checked. Any violations will be reported to the director of the journalism program. Tentative Schedule:Week 1: Introduction and What is News and Who Decides What is News? Tuesday, September 2: Class orientation, review of syllabus, and plagiarism statement. Class introductions. Homework: NYT/Twitter/Instagram set-up. Thursday, September 4: Harrower, chapters 1-2. Kovach and Rosenstiel handout on NYU Classes/Lessons, http://mashable.com/2012/05/29/instagram-for-beginners/ Off campus reporting: Fashion Week. Week 2: Newswriting Style, Domain Building Workshop and Social Media Primer Tuesday, September 9: “Why Everyone Should Register a Domain Name”, Dan Gilmor, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/28/why-everyone-should-register-domain-name Guest speaker: Daniel Victor, Social Media Editor, The New York Times. Off campus reporting: 9/11 Commemoration. Thursday, September 11: Harrower, chapter 3, pages 299-303. Week 3: Writing News Leads Tuesday, September 16: Basic Leads. Thursday, September 18: Alternative Leads. Off campus reporting: TBDWeek 4: Story Structure and Writing for the WebTuesday, September 23: Harrower, pages 50-51 Thursday, September 25: In-class writing for the web. Domain due. Off campus reporting: TBDWeek 5: Internet Reporting Tools and The New York Times Newsroom TourTuesday, September 30: Guest Speaker: John Schwartz, National Correspondent, The New York Times Thursday, October 2: Harrower, pages 74-75. NYT Newsroom Tour. Off Campus reporting: NYT Newsroom ObservationWeek 6: Writing Obituaries and Library Research Presentation